The Visitors
by JimmyP
Summary: 21 year old Aaron goes to visit Kate in hospital. On his visit he meets a mysterious stranger who seems oddly familiar. One-shot. Slight spoilers for "The End"


**AN: Hi. Just a quick little one-shot. This idea suddenly came to me and I thought it was quite a nice idea. Hope you like it. I've done a little bit of explaining at the end.**

**Slight Spoilers for "The End"**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lost.**

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"Am I too late for visiting hours?" 21 year-old Aaron asked as he stood at the hospital reception. He had hoped he'd be at the hospital hours earlier but he had lost track of time and then his train was cancelled.

The woman behind the desk checked the time. "You still have half an hour sir. Who have you come to see?"

"Katherine Austen."

"Certainly. What is your relation to the patient. I don't recall seeing you before."

Aaron thought for a moment. "It's...complicated. She raised me as a child."

"I didn't realise Ms. Austen had a son."

"I'm not. She just looked after me for a while."

The woman nodded as she typed Kate's name into the touch screen. "She's on floor 4, room 42. Would you like a map transmitted to your phone to help you find it?"

Aaron agreed and held up his phone to the terminal so that the route could be seen. "Hope you have a pleasant visit, sir."

Aaron followed the route up to Kate's room. She had been diagnosed with cancer a few months ago and had been in hospital over the past month for treatment. This had been the first opportunity that Aaron had a chance to see her as he had been busy with his studies. He was attending college in the States and so was able to make the visit, unlike his mother who was back in Australia. She did plan to visit in the next few weeks though.

As Aaron approached Kate's room a rather large-looking man stepped out. Aaron had never seen him before and when the man looked at him, a smile spread across his chubby face.

"Aaron?"

Aaron was confused. "Do I know you?" He outstretched his hand for a handshake but the man looked shocked and put his hands behind his back.

"No dude, you can't do that. Er...I...er...don't like touching?" The man said it like a question which Aaron found odd, and he put his hand back by his side.

"You know Kate?"

"Yeah. Me and her spent a lot of time together at one point of our lives. I'm Hurley by the way."

"Nice to meet you Hurley. Er...you knew my name. Did you know Kate when she was looking after me? Is that how you know me?"

Hurley nodded. "Sorta. But I knew your Mom too. How is Claire by the way?"

Aaron nodded. "She's good. Er...were you close to my Mum too?"

Hurley nodded. "...do you remember me at all, dude?"

Aaron thought for a moment. "It's weird, something about you is familiar but I can't put my finger on it. What was your name again?"

"Hurley. Or, Hugo Reyes, that's my actual name. Don't worry about not remembering me dude, I knew Kate and your Mom when you was really little." Hurley pointed towards Kate's room. "She know you've come? She didn't mention it to me."

Aaron shook his head. "It's a surprise."

Hurley smiled. "Well, I'm sure she'll really appreciate it, dude. It's a really nice thing to do. You don't have long so I won't keep you from seeing her. It was really good to see you."

"Yeah. It was nice to meet you Hurley. I can see why my Mom and Kate would be friends with you. You seem really cool."

"Thanks dude."

"Will I see you again?"

Hurley shrugged. "Hard to say."

"I hope so, Hurley." Aaron smiled and waved Hurley goodbye. The big man did the same and walked down the corridor. Aaron watched him. When they had spoken it was like Aaron knew him. Very odd, he thought.

As he entered the room, he smiled as Kate's face lit up from the hospital bed. "Aaron?"

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**AN 2: Okay, some explaining. Firstly, I decided that Aaron would be told about Kate raising him and that she would still have access to Aaron but he would not really know about the island. That's why Hurley doesn't mention it. Also, the Hurley not wanting to touch Aaron thing. If you think back to "The Incident" episode, in all of Jacob's flashbacks, he touches each candidate, possibly ensuring they end up on the island. Hurley wouldn't want Aaron to end up there so he won't touch him just in case. And the little bit about the phone and the map, this story is set in the future (2025 based on Aaron's age) and so I wanted to slip a bit of technology in there.**

**Hope you liked it. Review and let me know what you think please**


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